🔗 Share this article

HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the sole surprising aspect of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which surprised people appeared when reports of the outcome and its consequences for the summit of the table circulated. Although this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which leaves the Jambos leading of the league and a significant margin ahead of their rivals, was seismic in scale, nobody who has been tracking the fortunes of both squad this season will have been even remotely shocked by the result.

For each of the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish league between them, turning the beautiful game to something of a punchline in the meantime. Several matches into the present season it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who number celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – could be prepared to make their move while the Glasgow duo influence is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

Although a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being endured by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the situation at Ibrox has meant that the title holders' slightly less terminal decay has been able to fester below the radar. The defending title winners have already lost 10 points from their opening nine fixtures this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a man who constantly checking his Google calendar to find out how many time are left until his deal ends, and woke up this morning to discover the number is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in all my time here," he told reporters following the defeat, after they had questioned his appetite for any kind of a championship battle. "So the motivation is present to attempt to reverse the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the horrific start to the season being endured by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his men could typically be expected to get away with their own inability to start strongly, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the fray. Despite being obliged to operate with a war-chest that is not just a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have added the investment and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as investing ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has granted Hearts sole use of his top secret data-driven proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to discover unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at their home venue on Sunday wearing a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed cheering each goal with the gusto of a man who had almost certainly realized the bookies had massively misjudged his side's prospects of beating the out-of-sorts champions, and placed large bets accordingly.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a statement win," said bearded team manager the head coach after his side's latest victory, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for those on the periphery. It could alter opinions. It might validate views that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the players have provided us. In terms of skill, we appear in a good place, and certainly physically we seem in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Naturally, this is not a situation that this club is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, analytics-backed truth is that for the first time in many years, Scottish football might genuinely have a championship battle that a team other than the traditional powers can win.